Clamp for base-ball covers.



No. 848,007. PATBNTEDIMAR. 26,1907.

1?. A. BRUSSBAU.

CLAMP FOR BASE BALL covsns. APPLICATION FILED OUT-31,: 1906- WITNESSES INVENTOR 7M1 ATTORNEYS UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CLAMP FOR BASE-BALL COVERS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented March 26, 1907.

Application filed October 31,1906. Serial No, 341.367.

To all whom it may concern:

-Be it known that I, FRED A. BRUSSEAU, a citizen of the Unite (31 States of America, residing at Springfield, in the county of Hampden and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Clamp for Base-B all Covers, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in means for holding the cover-sections of baseballs in place on the core while being sewed or stitched, and consists ofa resilient clasp or clamp which more or less closely simulates the shape of the cover-section when incorporated with a ball, but which is smaller in area than such section, such device being capable of being sprung onto a ball over the cover. One of these clamps must be used with each cover-section or two to a ball.

A base-ball cover usually comprises two pieces of leather or other suitable material, cut so as to form a complete covering for the ball when stitched together along their adj acent edges, and heretofore it has been necessary to carefully secure such pieces or sections on the core by means of tacks before beginning to stitch the sections together and to remove said tacks as the stitching progresses; thereby greatly increasing the amount of time required to cover a ball; and the object of my invention is to do away with the necessity of tacking the cover to the core by providing means for easily and quickly securing the cover sections in position. Where some sixteen tacks, more or less, have been employed, I employ only two readilymanipulated fastening devices or clamps.

A further object of my invention is to pro vide a simple, inexpensive, durable, practicable, and efficient device of the class designated, the use of which economizes time and labor in the process of covering base-balls.

I attain these objects by the means illus trated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a view of a ball, showing the cover held in place by means of two of my clamps in readiness to be stitched; Fig. 2, a perspective view of one of the clamps; Fig. 3, a side or edge elevation of said clamp; Fig. 4, a section on lines 4 4 looking in the direction of the arrow, Fig. 3 and Figs. 5, 6, and 7 are perspective views of different forms of wire clamps.

Similar figures refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

The clamp 1 is made of spring sheet metal cut to conform more or less closely to the contour of the base-ball-cover section 2, to which it is designed to be applied; but however much or little the shape of said clamp is like that of said section the former must be smaller than the latter, so as to leave room for the stitching to be done. The clamp is also bent or curved, so that its normal shape is the same as that of the aforesaid cover-section when tightly fitted to the core of the ball, the inner surface of the clamp and the outer surface of the section exactly corresponding.

From the above it will be understood that the clamp is concavo-convex and consists of two terminal portions 3 larger than the central connecting portion 5. Holes 6 may be made in the splayed portions 3, if desired, to facilitate the removal of the clamp from the ball by means of some rigid instrument as a screw-driver, for example. Ordinarily, however, no instrument is required either for placing the clamp in position or for removing the same.

In practice first one cover-section 2 is placed smoothly on the core, and then one of the clamps 1 is sprung into position over such section. Next the other section 2 is placed similarly on the core, and the other clamp l is sprung into position over that section. Now the two sections are ready to be sewed or stitched together along the line 7, which outlines their abutting edges. The clamps hold the cover-sections securely in their proper relation to each other while being stitched, and when the stitching is finished said clamps can be and are removed from the ball without difficulty.

It is understood, of course, that the splayed terminal portions 3 of the clamp cor respond with the splayed terminal portions of the cover-sections, while the narrow connecting portion 5 corresponds with the narrow portions of said cover-sections.

Sometimes the cover-sections have been fastened in place for sewing by stitching them together at intervals, these stitches afterward being removed; but this method, as well as that of tacking, is slow, and as good results even cannot be obtained as when tacks are used, while with my device both the saving in time and labor and the insurance of a tight and secure fit of the cover-section of the core throughout the stitching operation are secured.

Various changes in the form, shape, and size of my clamp may be made without departing from the nature of my invention. For example, the clamp can be constructed of Wire, either in the form of a frame, as shown in Fig. 5, or merely of enlarged or splayed end portions in outline, as in Fig. 6, or of spiral formation, as in Fig. 7, connected b) a single Wire. I desire to claim, broadly, any device in the form or of the nature of a clamp for holding a cover-section to a ball.

In Fig. 5 the parts 3 3 constitute the splayed or enlarged end portions of the clamp 1, and 5 indicates the connecting parts, and in the last two views the end portions are represented at 3 and 3, respectively, the same form of connection 5" being shown in both cases.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. As a new article of manufacture, a clamp for base-ball covers consisting of a device of less area than a cover-section, conforming on its interior to the spherical shape of a ball and adapted to iit over and confine the cover-section while being sewed or stitched.

2. As a new article of manufacture, a clamp for base-ball covers consisting of a resilient member constructed and adapted to clasp over a cover-section and hold it in place While being sewed o1 stitched, such member having a smaller area. than the section.

3. As a new article of manufacture, a clamp for base-ball covers consisting of a resilient member constructed and adapted to clasp over a cover-section and hold it in place while being sewed or stitched, the end portions of such member being larger than the middle cmmecting portion thereof.

el. As a new aztiele of manufacture, a clamp for base-ball covers consisting of a re silient immiber constructed and adapted to clasp over a cover-section and hold it in place while being sewed or stitched, the terminal portions of such member being larger than the middle connecting portion thereof and the member as a whole having a smaller area than the section.

5. As a new article of manufacture, a clamp for base-ball covers consisting of a resilient concave-convex member constructed and adapted to clasp over a cover-section and hold it in place while being sewed or stitched, such men'lber having a smaller area than the section.

FRED A. BRUSSEAU.

\Vitnesses F. CUTTER, J. M. S'rnuxs. 

